Nick and Jan are back from vacation and the new season of this IS research is underway. We kick things off in a live session in the Doctoral Student Corner at the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), held virtually on 13 August 2021. With our hosts Sarah Hönigsberg and Carol Lee we talk about the role of conferences for IS academics and share a few experiences and tips for doctoral students for how to start collaborations, present at conferences, and prepare for job talks. As usual, the readings we refer to are listed on http://www.janrecker.com/this-is-research-podcast/.